the mass in the east. iii: armenian

Irish Jesuit Province

The Mass in the East. III: ArmenianAuthor(s): Donald AttwaterSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 61, No. 717 (Mar., 1933), pp. 167-172Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20513481 .

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167

THE MASS IN THE EAST.

III.-ARMENIAN.

By DONALD APWATER.

THE Armenian rite is proper to the Armenian nation and is used by nobody else. Since the massacres and deportations of 1915 its users

lallve been scattered to many countries and greatly reduced in numbers; they probably total now about two millions, of whom 130,000 only are Catholics and thie rest mostly belong to the Gregorian* Armenian

Church, which is not in communiion with the Holy See. During the Crusades a large part (nominAlly the

whole) of the Armenian church was re-united to Rome for nearly 200 years; from this time the Catholic rem niant dates, as do a number of distinctively Roman liturgical practices (e.g., the use of unleavened bread)

which even the dissidents still retain-claiming them to be customs of immemorial antiquity! Apart from these and the general modifications introduced by time and other influences, the Armenian Liturgy is substan tially that of the Byzantines tranislated into the classi cal Armenian language; the general outline of the ser vice is at once recognisable by anyone who knows the Liturgy of St. Johni Chrysostom. There is the same principle of the choir or people singing while the cele brant says the prayers in a low voice, often chanting the last sentence aloud (as at the end of the prayer

Nobis quoque peccatoribus of the Latin Mass), and the deacon acting as link between the two. But there is this notable difference: no picture-screen hides the

Armenian altar. Instead, a cuirtain is drawn before it for a short time at certain points (e.g., the preparation

*St. Gregory the Illuminator was the Apostle of Armenia, and the bulk of his church has been separated (with short intervals) from Catholic unity since A.D. 554, by the official profession of rthe Monophysite heresy, which maintains that in the person of Jesus Christ there was only one nature and not two, the huwam and the divine.



168 THE IRISH MONTHLY

of the bread and winie, the priest's communion) and is left drawn during the whole of Lent. In fact, a

Catholic Armenian church does not differ greatly in arrangement from a Latin one.

After preparatory prayers in the choir with a Confi teor (no other Easterns have that), Introibo and psalm 42 just as we have, the priest and deaon enter the sanctuary and prepare the bread and wine at a niche or table in the north side, while the curtain is drawn and the choir sings a hymn according to the feast. At Christmas:

" To-day a new flower springs from the root of Jesse, and the daughter of David gives birth to the Son of God." For the 'Transfiguration: "The beauteous rose

flowers on its stalk through leaves of a thousand colours; myriad trembling buds wave among the leaves."

For a bishop: " At the solemnity of your feast we triumph with spiritual joy, 0 father and teacher,

blessed Bishop N . . . .

The curtain is then drawn back, disclosing the altar all lit up, various prayers are said, and altar, ima-ges and people incensed.

While the Trisagion-" Holy God, holy Strong One, holy Deathless One, have mercy upon us "-is being sung the deacon and ministers fetch the gospel-book in procession (the "1 little entrance ") and the celebrant with joined hands says a prayer in which he and the people are identified as one person offering the sacri fice:

"Holy God, who reigneth among the blessed and

to whom the seraphim give praise in the song of the Trisagion . . who hath rendered us, thine unclean and worthless sermants, now worthy to present our selves before thy glorious and holy altar to offer thee the due praise and worship, accept from the lips, of

us sinners this thrice holy benediction; preserve us by thy goodness; pardon our sins . . . " etc.

There follows a Litany for clergy, rulers, and people,



TIE MASS IN THE EAST 169

living and dead, and the lessons and gospel aire sung by laymen or lectors and the deacon, followed by the creed (in the plural, " We believe "), more prayers and zinother litany. Then the catechumens are dismissed atnid the choir sings a hymn, called the "' hagiology," which varies with the feast. That for fast-days, which are numerous and kept particularly in memiory of the dead, is:

"1 Accept this sacr ifice in meimory of the departed, O holy Father, lover of men, and receive their souls among thy sain)ts in the kingdom of Heaven, for we offer this sacrifice with faith to obtaini reconciliation with thy Divinity and the repose of their souls."

The bread and wivie are brotughlit by the deacon in solemn processiona (the great entrance) rounld the back of the taltar to the celebrant, wlho otfers them uip. The deacon or server takes the kiss of peace to the people, who exchange it among themselves in just the same way as Latin clerics in clhoir. The priest says the preface in a low voice, the chloir sing the Sanctus, and the priest continues in a prayer which beautifully expresses our Lord's rOle in the sacrifice of the cross and the altar:

Thou hast g,iven us thine only Son, debt and debtor, immolated and consecrated, victim and heavenly bread, supreme priest and sacrifice: the distributor who among us is ever distribtuted, never consumed . . .

The people kneel. The words of consecration are chanted aloud (at the invitation of the dceacon-" Sir, bless !"), and all reply " Amen." The prayer of conse cration is concluded by the celebrant singing, again at the invitation of the deacon, a most striking phrase:

"1 We offer unto thee thine owII gifts, in all and for all."I

Then he makes a profounid prostration. After the invo cation of the Holy Ghost the priest prays for peace and charity, for all sorts and conditions of men, and makes a commemoration of our Lady, John the Baptist, Stephen the first Martyr, Gregory the Illu-minator, and all the saints, which the deacon expands into a litany



170 ltE IRISk MONTHLY

of commemoration of the saint of the day and of a number of saints (whom he names) famous in the early Ihistory of the Armenian Church, and of all the Faithful

departed. He then prays aloud that: " this holy and immortal sacrifice . . . may be for the sanctifying of our lives, and in view of it grant charity, strength and the much-desired gift of peace to the whole world, to holy Church, to all orthodox bishops, especially to our holy pope Pius, to our most happy patriarch Peter, to our own venerable bishop, and to the priest who offers this sacrifice. . . . We pray that all may be commemorated in this holy sacri fice (the choir concludes) in all and for all."

The Our Father is sung by the choir or people, the priest finishing it with the doxology found in nearly all eastern liturgies:

"1 For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Now the deacon cries: " Be attentive " (in Greek) and the priest lifts up the sacred Host saying, "1 Unto the holiness of the holy," and then the Chalice. After wards he turns to the people and makes the sign of the cross over them with the Body and Blood, and when the curtain is drawn breaks the holy Bread and makes his communaion, while the choir sings the following lovely hymn: C

"The immolated Christ is distributed among us. Alleluia.

He gives us his body as food and his blood he poured out over us. Alleluia.

Draw near to the Lord and be filled with his light. Alleluia.

Taste and see how sweet is the Lord. Alleluia Bless the Lord in the Heavens. Alleluia. Bless him in the highest Heavens. Alleluia;. Bless him, all ye his angels. Alleluia. Bless him, all ye his powers. Alleluia."

It is in accordance with Armenian Canon Law that the faithful should receive iHoly Communion under



1 LI4 MASS IN THE EAST 1,71

both kinds, but at present it is the custom among the C/atholics to receive it in the species of bread only, with the same words and actions as in the west. They are inivited with words similar to those in the Byzantine rite:

" Draw nigh with fear and faith and communicate worthily."

I

After a prayer of thanksgiving the celebrant, holding the gospel-book in an embroidered veil, turns to the

people and chants a long prayer of benediction. Then

lie reads a "l last gospel "' (from St. John, just as in the Roman Mass, but with four extra verses, the most surprising of all, the Armenian borrowings from the west), and ends with a blessing. On great feasts blessed bread is distributed.

The Armenian Liturgy, especially when celebrated with full solemnity by a, bishop, assisted by six deacons, is a very impressive affair and it gets a peculiar

" hold " on people. Like a11 our Liturgies, it is so

obviously the Christian Sacrifice; its structural affini ties to the Latin Mass are apparent to the attentive

teye; and at the same time it is so thoroughly oriental

the majestic movements of the celebrant, the interjec tions and frequent incernsing by the deacon, the brightly Coloured choir and their intricate chant, the touch of

miiystery given by the curtain, the ample and gorgeouis vestments. (These, by the way, differ but little from those of other eastern rites; one peculiarity is that the

priest wears a bulbous "1 crown" ' just like a Byzantine bishop, and the bishops, even the non-Catholic ones, wear Roman mitres of huge height.)*

Thus do the Armenian children of the Church deck out the sacrifice and banquet:

"0 Word of the Father and blessed High Priest,

* At the Eucharistie Congress at Jerusalem in 1893, Mgr.

Terzian, then Bishop of Adana, and late Armenian Patriarch of

Cilicia, said that "

I often 'have to celebrate the holy Mysteries in the open air, there not lalwaye being room sufficiently high to hold me with a mitre on my head." He was, of course, refer

ring to the poverty of his nock, but the statement provoked laughter.



172 TIlE IRISH MONTHLY

praised by the angels in the height of 'Heaven; thou who, sacrificed on the cross in the flesh, hast shed thy blood for the salvation of the world, blot out our sins by the virtuie of thy life-giving and expiatory blood which brings saving and life. Have mercy on us2." (Hymn for Thursday.) This Liturgy has been many times translated into

English, generally from the Gregorian books. In 1873 was published a translation from the Catholic books by Father James Issaverdenz, D.D., -Mechitarist monk of S. Lazaro at Venice. This is now out of print.

LOVE'S HOME. Our Home is on a steep high crag,

With a garden near the sky; We planted there our Cross and flag,

My Mary-life and I.

The Cross-it is a true knight's sign, His badge of chivalry;

The motto on the flag is mine: " Contempt and poverty."

And there we live in humble cot, With a shamrock by the door

Past plans of pride's false flame forgot Till earth's sweet days be o'er.

GmMOEE.



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